From home-cooked delights to stunning restaurant dishes, berries are regularly added to different types of cuisine to help elevate a particular dish. Some people add berries to salads, while others might even throw some in to lighten up an incredibly spicy offering. Alternatively, if adding berries to a savory creation doesn’t satisfy your tastebuds, then adding them to a variety of desserts is probably the most common solution.
Berries have always been associated with health and vibrance. Symbolically, when assessing a variety of popular berries, such as cranberries, they give us the impression of vivacity and brighten up even the darkest of dishes. Even away from the kitchen, classic fruit machines of yesteryear used berries as symbols to create a bright and welcoming gaming product. The same applies today, with people accessing the berry-themed Berryburst slot machine, a popular Netent product that features berries throughout in what is a feast for the eyes. Indeed, NetEnt and other iGaming suppliers often use the fun and positivity of fruits and foods in their games. Examples include NetEnt’s Hells Kitchen slot, which is based on Gordon Ramsay’s hit cooking show.
Given the vivacity and brightness on show through a number of commonly consumed berries, it’s no surprise that many of them are good for us, too. In fact, berries have a number of positive health benefits that have a good nutritional profile and reduce the risk of developing many chronic diseases.
While berries aren’t suited to all dishes, there are some creations that can be improved with a sprinkling of specific berries. Alternatively, even sprucing up your breakfast in the morning with a selection of healthy berries will leave you feeling better in the long run. However you decide to add more berries to your diet, let’s assess some of the healthiest berries to consider.
Blueberries are packed full of goodness
Seen in muffins and in a number of different breakfast bowls, blueberries offer a fantastic source of vitamin K alongside a whole host of other notable benefits. Also containing a number of strong antioxidants, like anthocyanins, blueberries can help combat common health issues like heart disease. Blueberries are also commonly eaten by people who are keen to lower their risk of developing diabetes as they contain a number of compounds that improve insulin sensitivity. Blueberries can even aid brain health, too.
Improve your desserts with a portion of raspberries
Adding a portion of raspberries to a cake recipe or a light and tasty fruit salad after a heavy meal will give you a number of health benefits in the long-term. For example, raspberries are an excellent source of fibre, they contain a number of antioxidants, and black raspberries, in particular, are associated with reducing the risk of developing heart disease. Next time you’re in need of an injection of sweetness, opt for some raspberries.
Goji berries have been used in traditional Chinese medicine
Although the taste of goji berries does divide opinions on the whole, there is no denying just how good they are for us humans. Native to China, goji berries have only recently reached this part of the world after being prominently featured in a number of traditional Chinese remedies over the years. Now, though, they’re heavily featured in cereals and snapped up in bags and added to smoothies as society as a whole becomes more aware of their undoubted health benefits. Goji berries contain high levels of vitamin A and zeaxanthin, which is good for eye health, they contain antioxidant polyphenols, and have even been linked to weight loss.
Other berries to add to your cooking includes strawberries, bilberries, açai berries, and the aforementioned cranberries.
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